The Samsung Galaxy S III is one of the more hotly anticipated smartphones of the year, but at least one user has found it to be a bit too hot.

As noted by the Inquirer, a Galaxy S III owner in Dublin was driving in his car when the device caught fire.

"Suddenly a white flame, sparks and a bang came out of the phone," dillo2k10 wrote on boards.ie. "I pulled in to look at my phone, the phone burned from the inside out. Burned through the plastic and melted my case to my phone. The phone kept working but without any signal."

The phone's owner posted a photo of the Galaxy S III (above) with a large burn on the bottom back of the device.

In a blog post, Samsung said it was aware of a Galaxy S III with "heat-related damage" and pledged to "begin investigating as soon as we receive the specific product in question."

"Once the investigation is complete, we will be able to provide further details on the situation," Samsung continued. "We are committed to providing our customers with the safest products possible and are looking at this seriously."

In an update to his post, dillo2k10 said he received no help from retailer Carphone Warehouse on the issue but had been contacted by Samsung.

"The head of customer services came out to see me and gave me a replacement phone. Even said he would send me out some free stuff," dillo2k10 wrote. "There is no confirmation that it was a fault with the phone. It may actually have been caused by a combination of my car mount and my cars heating system."

The incident does not appear to have soured dillo2k10 on the smartphone. "Just delighted to have my Galaxy back," the user concluded.

Back in November, Australian regional airline Regional Express (REX) said that a passenger's iPhone had glowed red and begun emitting dense smoke after the plane had landed. A similar incident was reported in July 2010.

About the Author

Before joining PCMag.com, Chloe covered financial IT for Incisive Media in NYC and technology policy for The National Journal's Technology Daily in Washington, DC. She has held internships at NBC's Meet the Press, washingtonpost.com, the Tate Gallery press office in London, Roll Call, and Congressional Quarterly. She graduated with a bachelor's deg... See Full Bio

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